


Fallen

by foggys



Series: The Triumphant and the Lost [2]
Category: Gymnastics RPF
Genre: 1996 Olympics, Gen, Vault - Freeform, Women's Artistic Gymnastics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-27
Updated: 2013-06-27
Packaged: 2017-12-16 08:51:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/860267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foggys/pseuds/foggys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dominique Moceanu is not going to cry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fallen

It’s Dominique’s first vault.

She’s waiting on the vault runway, nerves twisting through her torso. She adjusts her grips and shakes out her legs. The chatters and whistles of the crowd buzzes around her, but she’s been to international competitions before – but never as big as the Olympics – and she’s won, so she’s not about to let it break her concentration.

Dominique will do well. She will help her team win the gold medal.

She licks her lips and salutes. The simple motion reminds her that there’s no backing out now. She can’t stop.

She takes a deep breath. In, out. She mutters a quick prayer. And she’s off.

She starts running. Slowly, then faster, faster, faster, leap now, round-off, feet on the springboard, hands on the vault and then off, keep body straight and toes pointed, twist, but she’s under-rotated and she has to land – 

– and her feet slide out from under her.

The crowd roars, gasps, but she gets up like nothing happened, and salutes with dignity. She turns back to walk toward the start and she’s so embarrassed and she’s not going to cry and she’s not going to cry because she still has a second chance to save it and she hasn’t messed up her team’s chances yet. Her teammates and Bela ask if she’s okay and all she can do is to keep nodding, because she’s okay and Kerri, stop looking so shocked and can all of you please stop staring at her now? That was so stupid and she vows never to make the same mistake again.

She ignores the slow-motion video on the gigantic screen of her falling in front of thousands of people.

Dominique keeps nodding. She’s fine, really. And then the scores come up, and she can’t help feeling a surge of disappointment and a little bit of anger.

Because underneath the MOCEANU, DOMINIQUE across the top of the sign, there’s a number. 9.137.

But she’s going to do better this time. She takes another breath and licks her lips again. Then another breath, and another. She rubs her hands together, spreading the chalk more evenly.

A whispered prayer, a small, smooth salute, a breath, and she’s running again.

She’s going to make it. She does a round-off and jumps and arches her back and her hands push off the vault and no, she’s under-rotated again and she’s not going to land well and her legs come apart and she goes crashing into the blue mat again.

She cannot believe that she just did that.

She salutes a little slower this time and starts off the mat. The audience is so loud and there are camera flashes all around (and she has a wedgie) and she has to leave this podium where everyone can see her so she jogs a little bit and heads down the stairs.

She just fell down, twice, in the Olympics.

She’s not going to cry, she resolves as she receives half-hugs from her coaches and half-hearted, genuinely disappointed pats from her teammates. And it’s now Kerri Strug’s turn to vault. Kerri, who’s their best on vault and Dominique’s biggest rival. Kerri, whose vault scores their whole team depends upon, because Dominique fell down on both of her vaults. If Kerri gets a good score, everyone will remember her, just her, because she’s the one who saved the US team after Dominique Moceanu fell twice. And if Kerri falls too, it won’t be her fault; it’ll be that horrible stroke of luck for the team that year in Atlanta, when two vaultists fell, one after another.

Dominique squeezes her eyes shut briefly and opens them again. And then she watches Kerri Strug.

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this for a while, and totally forgot about it. Well, here you go. Kerri Strug's vaults might be coming soon.


End file.
